Ex-champ vs. the current champ! That is going to be huge!

The long-awaited fight will finally happen in Orenburg, Russia on June 15th. The very first M-1 Challenge lightweight champion Artem Damkovsky (22-10) from Belarus won his title in 2010 winning the fight by TKO. Damkovsky lost the title pretty soon, but did not quit and kept fighting the best athletes in M-1 Global. Winning seven of last ten fights Artem deserved another title shot and now eight years after winning the title for the first time he is ready to put on the crown once again.

Lightweight champ Damir Ismagulov is now riding a winning streak of ten fights and with an impressive record 15-2 he is now one of the most dominant athletes of the promotion. Ismagulov is a clever fighter, who prefers following a strategy in his performances and that helps him finishing his opponents in the late rounds. Four times he took his opponents to the third round just to finish them with heavy punches.